Courtesy of our friends at NBC, who with over 203 million viewers now only need to reel in six million more viewers to break the old record of 209 Million with the Atlanta games in 1996.

BEIJING OLYMPICS ON NBC UNIVERSAL THROUGH 12 DAYS SURPASSES 17-DAY TOTAL FOR ATHENS

84% of All U.S. TV Households Have Tuned In

BEIJING -Aug. 20, 2008 -Through just 12 days, NBCU's Beijing Olympic coverage has surpassed the 17-day viewership total for the entire Athens Olympics, making it the third most viewed television event in U.S. history. The 203.3 million viewers nearly 12 million more than the first 12 days for Athens (191.5 million) and 4 million more than the Atlanta Games (199.2 million), which was the most-viewed television event in U.S. history. NBCU's coverage has reached more than 84 percent of all U.S. television homes.

The Beijing Olympic 12-day average primetime viewership is 29.3 million, 12 percent ahead of Athens in 2004 (26.1 million). NBC's average of a 17.1 rating, 29 share in households is the best through the second Tuesday for a Summer Olympics outside the U.S. since Barcelona in 1992 (18.1/34) and is an eight percent jump from Athens in 2004 (15.8/27).

Tuesday night garnered 71 million total viewers in primetime and 26.6 million average viewers, a six percent gain from the comparable night in Athens (25.0 million). The night earned a 16.3 rating/27 share, which is up four percent from Athens' comparable night (15.7/26).

NBC Universal, broadcasting its record 11th Olympics and surpassing ABC for the most Olympics broadcast by any network, is presenting an unprecedented 3,600 hours of Beijing Olympic Games coverage, the most ambitious single media project in history featuring the most live coverage (nearly 2,900 live hours in total), across the most platforms, of any Summer Olympics in history.